Electronic curve follower and analog computer



Dec. 1, 1964 .1. w. BRoulLLETTE, JR., ETAL 3,159,743

ELECTRONIC CURVE F'OLLOWER AND ANALOG COMPUTER 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed Oct 26, 1956 Dec. 1, 1964 J. w. BROUILLETTE, JR.. ETAL 3,159,743

ELECTRONIC CURVE FoLLOwER ANO ANALOG COMPUTER Original Filed Oct. 26, 1956 To Y OEFLEcTloN AMPLIFIER 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 TO X DEF LECTION lo AMPLIFIER INVENTORS: `JOSEPH w. BRou|LLETTE,JR. CHARLES w. JOHNSON,

THEIR ATTORNEY.

Dec. l, 1964 .1. w. BROUILLETTE, JR., ETAL 3,159,743

ELECTRONIC CURVE FoLLowER AND ANALOG COMPUTER Original Filed Oct 26, 1956 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 FIG.IO0.

CHARLES W. JOHNSON `N' BY THEIR ATTORNEY.

l G I3 INVENToRs.

/\ JosEP-H w. BRoulLLETTE JR.

Dec. l, 1964 Ec cos(wt+c) 77 lhEm TEcsmm-c) COSUM-m) Em COS(cm) INVEN'ToRs:

' JOSEPH w.BRou1L| ETTl-:.JR.

CHARLES w. JOHNSON,

THEIR ATTORNEY.

Original Filed Oct. 26', 1956 ELECTRONIC CURVE FOLLOWER AND ANALOG COMPUTER J. W. BROUILLETTE, JR.. ETAL 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 F|G.|Og.

Emcos(wt+ m) l coMPAmsoN n -A P VOLTAGE Dec. 1, 1964 J. w. EIRoUILLETTE, JR., ETAL 3,159,743

ELECTRONIC CURVE FOLLOWER AND ANALOG COMPUTER Original Filed Oct 26, -1956 6 Sheets-Sheerl 5 F\G.|3 2o\b ,9)

Y SEARCH cLAMPING SWEEP GATE- I= F GENERATOR l I MASTER l YoEFLEcTIoN I oscILLAToR I AMPLIFIER l I 226 I 2II QUIPHASE I xoEFLEcTIoN l LEAD I AMPLIFIER l l 22h 72 Any REsET FoR ALL INTEGRAToRs FROM PULSE DETECTOR Ia B+ IIo |23 I III, PuLsE couNT WN GENERATOR Do OUTPUT To YoEFLEcTIoN AMPLIFIER ToxswEEP GENERATOR INvENToRs'.

BY M/ THEIR ATTORNEY` Dec. 1, 1964 J. w. BROUILLETTE, JR., ETAL 3,159,743

ELECTRONIC CURVE EoELowER AND ANALOG COMPUTER Original Filed Oct. 26, 1956 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 2 i' 5 1* 0) O 0 n' o: So :liz-3E 5 1 4 o cmO E PHASE ETECTOR PHASE DETECTOR E sin wt Ecos wt Fle. l5.

INVENToRsz' EALANCED MonuLAroR THEIR ATTORNEY.

fIU)

JOSEPH W. BROUILLETTE JR.

United States Patent Office airain Patented Deel, 1964 3,159,743 ELECTRNEC CURVE FLLQWER AND ANALG Cms/WEITER Joseph W. Brouillette, Jr., .lamesvlle, and Charles W.

.l'ohnsom Fayetteville, NX., assignors to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York @riginal application Get. 26, 1956, Ser. No. M8594, now )Patent No. 2586,332, dated Apr. 18, 1961. Divided land this application Get. 26, 196i), Ser. No. 65,220

2% Claims. (Cl. 23f5--l9) l' `tion is a division of US. application Serial No. 618,504,

filed October 26, 1956, now Patent No. 2,980,332.

Electro-mechanical curve following devices have in the past been used for such purposes as the automatic t control of various machine tools, Typicmly, such devices comprise a photoelectric curve reading head mounted upon a mechanical support, the motion of which is controlled by an error signal developed by the photoelectric reader. The motion of the head may then be used to derive information to controlany desired machine tool. While these devices are well suited to their intended purpose, the electro-mechanical nature of the system imposes a very distinct limit on the speed at which a given curve may be read, which, in other applications is often undesirable.

An electronic curve follower, commonly known as the photoformerj has been used for some time in the analog computing arts as an arbitrary function generator. This system comprises an opaque mask which is placed over the lower portion of the face of a cathode ray tube.

The upperV edge of the mask represents, in an orthogonal x-y coordinate system corresponding to the horizontal 'and vertical detlection axes of the tube, a plot of the function y=f(x) which one desires to generate. A linear sawtooth deflection voltage is applied to the horizontal plates of the tube to generate the independent variable x, and a bias voltage is applied to the vertical plates to initially position the spot of light formed by the electron beam at the top of the face of the cathode ray tube. A photocell is positioned to pick up the light emitted from the face of the tube and to develop a voltage proportional to the intensity of this light. This voltage is applied to the vertical deflection plates in opposition to the bias voltage, so that the system is maintained in equilibrium when the spot of light rides along the upper edge of the opaque.

mask. The net voltage on the vertical deiiectionplate of the tube as the beam is swept horizontally by the linear x deflection voltage is then an analog representation of the function y=f(x), the functional relationship being as determined by the contour of the upper edge of the mask.

While the photoformer is capable of operating speeds far greater than those of electro-mechanical curve followers, -it`obviously is not capable of following completely around all closed curves or even offollowing yan open-ended curve which may be multiple valued. This, of course, follows from the fact that the linear saw-tooth used as the horizontal or x deflection sweep permits the system to trace out only opener1ded, single-valued curves.

There are many applications wherein it would be desirable to have a curve following system which has both the high operating speeds of an electronic device and the iiexibility as to the nature of the curve which may be read which is presently found only in electro-mechanical systems. These applications include, for example, form recognition or document reading systems, curve measuring systems, :arbitrary function generators, and numerous applications in the control and computing arts, such,

for example, as program preparation and curve trans# formation. This desired speed and exibility is most readily achieved by the use of a novel electronic analog computer or simulator which can operate on vector quantities which may, for example, represent various geometrical properties of curves. As will become apparent, this computer may be used not only to follow and to analyze the properties of, or to recognize, a given input curve, but also to generate an unknown output curve or trajectory from an input of arbitrarily selected properties which one may desire a curve to have.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a .novel electronic curve follower which is capable of following either closed or open-ended curves which may be either single or multiple valued.

. It is a further object of this invention to provide such a curve follower which will generate voltages representing various geometrical and mathematicalcurve being read.

It is a further object of this invention toV provide a properties of the novel electronic analog computer adapted` to resolve,

synthesize, and operate upon vector quantities.

lt is a further object of this invention to provide electronic apparatus for simulating the motion of a particle acted upon by various forces.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide various novel circuits adapted for use in such an electronic simulator, curve follower, and analog computer.

Briefly stated, in accordance with one exemplary embodiment of the invention,'light from the screen of a cathode ray tube of a flying spot scanner is focused on a curve display means which may be a transparent member having opaquely drawn thereon the curve to be investigated. The light transmitted by the member is refocused on a photoelectric cell or transducer. The spot of the scanner is caused 'to execute any convenient search raster which may, for example, be of the type commonly used in television receivers, and which is clamped or stopped as soon as the light to the photocell is inter- Y rupted by the spot intersecting the curve. Superposed on the original search voltages, and continuing after they are clamped, are voltages generated lat a constant carrier frequency and so related Vto each other as to cause the spot to execute a search circle the diameter of which is small compared to the dimensions of the curve in question. The intersection of the search circle` with the curve produces two pulses per cycle of the carrier. VThese pulses may be amplified, filtered and processed by the rest of the analog computer loop, for which the search circle generator voltages provide a phase reference, to produce voltages representing horizontal and vertical components of a correction vector, which voltages may be applied to the deflection system of the cathode ray tube so as to cause the center of the search circle to be servo-controlled to follow around the perimeter of the curve at constant speed. In effect the computer gives the center of the search circle a virtual inertia or mass and causes it to simulate a particle moving along the curve at constant speed. Under these conditions, it can be shown that the acceleration of the center of the search circle is directed along the normal to the curve yand is proportional to the curvature of the curve being read. Other voltages, representing various other properties of the curve, are also available inthe system and may be used for any of the purposes indicated above. generate a curve, the feedback loop of information from the curve display means through the photoelectric trans` When the system is used to ducer is opened, and arbitrary voltage functions representing desired curve properties are introduced into the system which then causes the curve having the desired properties to be traced out on the screen of the cathode ray tube which, of course, may be photographed or otherwise observed.

While the novel and distinctive features of the invention are particularly pointed out in the appended claims, a more expository treatment of the invention, in principle and detail, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, is afforded in the following description and accompanying drawings, of a representative embodiment wherein like reference characters are used to indicate like parts throughout, and in which;

FIGURE 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of the electronic curve follower and analog computer of the present invention- FIGURE 2 through 9, 10a, 10b, 10c, 10d, 10e, 10i, and g are diagrammatic illustrations of various geometrical and electrical relationships involved in the operation of the system of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE l1 is a schematic circuit diagram of a phase detector used in the system of FIGURE 1.

FIGURES 12a and 12b are times versus voltage waveform plots showing certain phase relations existing in the circuit of FIGURE 1l.

FIGURE 13 is a block diagram of additional circuitry which may be incorporated in the system of FIGURE 1 and which is particularly useful in following or reading open ended rather than closed curves.

FIGURE 14 is a schematic circuit diagram showing means for clamping the television type search sweep generators shown in block form in FIGURES 1 and 13.

FIGURE 15 is a block diagram of a modification of a portion of the system of FIG. 1.

Turning now to the drawings, FIGURE 1 is a block diagram of the system including an electron beam device here shown as a conventional cathode ray tube 10. Tube 10 is equipped with any convenient deflection system which imparts vertical and horizontal components of motion to the electron beam in the tube in accordance with voltages applied to the deflection system. The deilection of the electron beam, of course, controls the position of the spot of light seen on the face of the tube when the electron beam strikes the phosphor screen thereof. The deflection system may, for example, be of the electrostatic type having horizontal and vertical deflection plates, as shown diagrammatically in FIGURE 2. It is convenient, for the purposes of this specification, to consider the horizontal deflection voltage as representing the value of the x coordinate, and the vertical deflection voltage as representing the value of the y coordinate of the spot S in a right-handed, orthogonal Cartesian coordinate system having its center or origin at the center C of cathode ray tube 1t), and having its axes oriented along the tubes deflection axes. The position on the screen of the spot of light, S, at any instant may then be represented by a position vector I1 having an x component, px, and y component, py Such a representation logically assumes that the deflection system of tube 10 is linear in the relation between applied voltage and amount of deflection. In fact this linearity is not necessary in all applications of the device, but the explanation of the system is clarified by making this assumption for the present.

As is well known in the art, any vector quantity may be specified either by stating the value or magnitude of its two orthogonal components or, alternatively, by stating the direction angle and the scalar value, that is, the magnitude or length or the vector itself. By -thedirection angle of the vector is meant the angle between the vector and a reference vector which is, by convention, taken to lie along the x axis. For the purposes of this specification a directional vector quantity will be indicated by a capital letter underlined, whereas the scalar value or magnitude of the vector quantity will be indicated by the same capital letter without underlining.

Orthogonal components will be indicated by corresponding small letters with appropraite subscripts. In other words, the position of the spot S shown in FIGURE 2 at the end of position vector if may be uniquely defined either by stating the values pX and py, the orthogonal components along the x and y axes respectively, or by stating the length or scalar value, P, and the value of the direction angle between E and the x axis. The latter form is generally called a polar representation of the vector, whereas the former is known as a component representation of the vector. Either one of the two equivalent ways of defining the same vector quantity may be more convenient than the other for a particular purpose; The process of transformation from the polar to the orthogonal component form of vector representation is commonly known as resolving the vector into its orthogonal components. The converse process of transforming from the component to the polar form may be termed synthesizing the vector.

It' spot S moves in a straight line to a position S in one unit of time, as shown in FIGURE 3, the new position may then be similarly specified by the vector Q Additionally, the velocity of motion of the spot from S to S may be specified by a vector X. Vector E of course, is the vector drawn from the origin C to the new position S. Velocity vector X, on the other hand, which in general equals A lj/At, is here the vector drawn from S- to S since At was specified to be one unit of time. The magnitude or length of represents the average linear velocity or speed of the spot which, as is well known, is equal to the distance traveled divided by the time. The velocity vector X, however, also has a direction as well asa magnitude. This direction may be stated by specifying the angle between the vector Y and the x axis or, equivalently, the angle qb between vector X and a line parallel to the x axis.

Thus, as with the position vector, the velocity vector may be completely specified by stating its magnitude and its direction angle. Similarly, it, like the position vector, may alternatively be specified by stating the value of its x and y components, vX and vy, which are the projections of the vector I T on the x and y axes respectively as shown in FIGURE 3. As is well known, the magnitude of these x and y component values may be found from the vector E from the relations,

f 1d) vX=V cos qs (1b) vy=V sin p It is apparent that if the spot S moves in a straight line at constant speed, the vector Y will remain constant in both magnitude and direction. If the speed changes along the same straight line, the magnitude of X will change but its direction :angle will remain constant. If the magnitude of y remains unchanged while the spot moves in Aa curve rather than in a straight line, then only the direction angle (p changes and the spot may be said to be traveling along the curve at constant speed, V. Of course, both the magnitude and direction of E may, in general, change simultaneously.

lust as the change in the position vector 2 in unit time gives the velocity vector E, so also the change in the velocity vector X in unit time gives the acceleration vector which may be found from successive values of E just as Y was found from successive values of 1 2. Like the vectors E and y., the vector acceleration may also be specified either by stating its magnitude and direction, or by stating its x and y components, ax and ay.

If one repeatedly chooses the unit of time to be smaller and smaller, one second, one millisecond, one microsecond, etc., one will approach, in the limit, the instantaneous values of these vectors. This, in effect, is what is done by the well known methods of differential and integral calculus in terms of which the foregoing relationships may be stated as follows:

ETS (2) f =d/df() (3) Fa/dug) time. Furthermore, since integration is the inverse of diiferentiation, it followsA from the -above relations that,

(4) Zarge That is, velocity equals the integral of acceleration with respect to time and position equals the integral of velocity with respect to time. The computation of either the derivative or the integral of a vector quantity is an example of what is commonly termed performing an operation on the vector.

The volt-ages which are actually applied tothe horizontal and vertical dellection plates of tube lu from dellection amplifiers and 26 have values which represent or, in other words, which are proportional to the components, pX and py, of position vector E. That is, one volt, for example, may cause a deflection of the spot S of one centimeter (or some other unit of distance) on the face of tube I@ Ialong the axis perpendicular to the deflection plate to which the voltage is applied. The factor of proportionality is commonly termed a scale factor. vAs shown in FIGURE 2, a positive voltage from the x deilection amplifier will move thespot a distance pX to the righ-t along the x axis, and a positive input from the y deflection amplier will move the spot a distance py upwardly along ythe y axes. If both components are applied simultaneously, the net result is to move the spot S to the end of position vector IL Of course, negative voltages would move the spot in opposite directions respectively. Since the .amount and direction of the dellection are proportional respectively to the magnitude and polarity of the -applied deflection voltages, these voltages are herein called position voltages px` and py, respectively, as shown in FIGURES 1 and 2.

In a similar fashion, voltages which, when applied as inputs to electronic integrators, produce output voltages which are these above defined position voltages, will be called velocity voltages. Likewise, if a voltage applied as an input to an electronic integrator produces an output which'is a velocity voltage, then the input will be called an acceleration voltage. Along any one axis of tube l0, a constant acceleration voltage, when integrated, produces an increasing velocity vol-tage. If the velocity voltage in turn is integrated it produces a more rapidly increasing position volt-age, and the spot is caused to move. In the present system, as the values of voltages pX and py change simultaneously, so will the v-alue of vector E and the spot of light will move on the face of tube 1Q in accordance with the change in E which is determined by the integrations or other operations which have been performed on acceleration and velocity voltages. The integrators used for the above `opera-tions may -be of the type commonly used in the art as described, for example, in the book Electronic Analog Computers by G. A. Korn and T. M. Korn, published by McGraw-Hill, New York, NY., 1952.

When the system is rst turned on by applying conventional power supplies, not shown, the voltages pX and py are derived, via the 'deflection amplifiers, from horizontal and vertical Search sweep generators Ztla and 2Gb, and from a Search circle generator 21. The sweep generators 20a and 2Gb may, for example, be of the type commonly used in television receivers having saw-tooth output voltages such thatthe spot starts at the upper lef-t hand corner of the tube face, sweeps horizontally across at a rapid rate, iiies back more rapidly and sweeps horizontally across the tube again, meanwhile moving downward at a slower rate. It should be understood, however, that the particular pattern of this initial search sweep is not critical and that yany convenient pattern other than the television raster type suggested above could also be used to initiallyind the curve. Of cour-se, a manual adjustment of potentiometers through which voltages are applied to the deiiection system from sources of constant voltage may also be used, if desired, to initially position the spot on or near the curve to be read. f

In addition to the voltages from search sweep generators Zita and Zub, voltages from a search circle generator 2l are also applied to the x and y deflection amplifiers 25 and 2'5. The defies-tion amplifiers, as is well-known in the art, are such that their voltage output is proportional to the sum of a plurality of individual voltage inputs. The voltages fromycircle generator 2l are such that, acting alone, they would cause the spot to execute a small search circle the diameter of which is extremely small by comparison to the area of the tube face. In practice this diameter may, for example, be of the order of magnitude of a few millimeters. The exact size of the search circle is not critical, however, as will appear below. As diagrammatically shown on an enlarged scale in FIGURE 4, the addition of these two pairs of voltages in the defiection `amplifiers causes the spot of light S to continuously rotate in a small circle Q the center O of which is initially deflected in a search sweep pattern or raster as determined by the voltages from generators 20a and 2012. If it is desired to avoid excessive cardioidal distortion of the circle while its center is in motion, the speed of the motion of the spot around the circle should be large by comparison to the speed of the motion of the center of the search circle.

Search circle generator 2l may conveniently comprise a master oscillator 22a, which is preferably a crystal controlled oscillator, but may be any convenient means for generating a stable yalternating voltage output of the form, E sin wt, which is applied through potentiometer 23 lto the y deflection amplier 26. Here, E is the magnitude, that is, the peak or maximum value of the voltage, w is the angular frequency of `the volt-age, and t is time. Also, w equals 2erf, where 27T radi-ans equals 360, and where f is the frequency of alternation of the voltage in cycles per second. As shown diagrammatically in -an enlarged scale in FIGURE 5, such an alternating or A.-C. voltage, E sin wt, represents the vertical or y component of a voltage alternating in value in order to cause its rotation and which are respectively E cos wt and E sin wt.

y The output, E sin wt,of master oscillator 22a is applied, as noted above, to the y deflection amplifier 2d. In order to obtain the x component of the vector E, this'output is also applied to an element 22b which may be any conventional network that causes a phase lead of 90" or 1r/2 radians of its output voltage with respect .to its input voltage. Element 22b, therefore, has an output voltage, E sin (wt-I-rr/Z), which,fas is well known, is-equal to E cos wt. This output is the required x component of vector E, and is applied through potentiometer 24 to the x deflection amplifier 25 of tube 10. The combined effects of the voltages E sin wt and E cos wt on the deflec- .tion system -anld electron beam of the cathode ray tube reconstruct or synthesize the rotating vector E from its orthogonal components, and cause the spot to execute the small search circle Q the center of which is moved in the television type raster.

The image of the face of the tube 10 on which the spot of light S is moving is focused by a lens l1 on a curve display means which may comprise :a stencil or other member l2 on which is impressed a curve 13 that, in

FIGURE l, is shown, by way of example only, asbeing the outline of a regular hexagon. Stencil 12 may be -transparent or translucent and curve 13 opaque, in which case the light transmitted by the stencil is collected by a second lens 14. If member 12 is opaque and reflecting, curve 13 may conveniently be its only non-reflecting portion, in which case lens 14 is positioned on the same side of the stencil as lens 11 in order to collect the reflected light.

Of course, it should be understood that any equivalent arrangement could be used. In particular, the transparent and opaque, or reflecting and non-reflecting portions of member 12 may be interchanged. Member 12 may, for example, be either a positive or negative photographic film, or a portion of an intermittently moved roll of microfilm. ln any of these arrangements, the curve 13 is defined by the boundaries between adjacent regions of member 12 which have different optical properties. Such a boundary exists, for example, along a line separating regions of different optical density, grey scale, or transparency in a photographic negative. In general such a line represents an equi-density or constant grey level line and the gradient or rate of change of density or grey level may be either continuous throughout the area including the line, or (in the special case of two tone or black and white images) the line may correspond to a discontinuity in the grey scale. For purposes of clarity of discussion the latter special case of black and white or two tone definition will be assumed in the remainder of the specification. It should however, be understood that the system may be used to read either type of material. If the system is used to follow along an equi-density line in an image having a continuous density gradient or variation of grey level, the only difference in operation is that the output of the photoelectric transducer (to be described in detail below) becomes a continuously varying waveform such as a sinusoid rather than a series of pulses. Both types of output, however, contain essentially the same information as will become apparent from the discussion below.

The curve display means and the search surface on which the spot of the electron beam device is focused are positioned in what may be termed reciprocally imaged relationship. By this term is meant that if the search surface, which may for example be the screen of the cathode ray tube 10, is considered as an object then it will be imaged on the curve display means and conversely if ythe curve display means is considered as `an object then it will be imaged on the search surface in accordance with well known laws of optics. Of course, the limiting case of reciprocally imaged relationship occurs when the curve display means is a mask or other display medium `placed immediately on or adjacent the search surface so that points on the curve display means and points on the search surface directly have the one-to-one correspondence which in other arrangements is achieved by the use of an intervening lens.

The light collected from member 12 by lens 14 is focused on a photoelectric transducer, such as a photocell 15. Of course, tube 10, lenses 11 and 14, curve display means 12, and photocell 15 may be enclosed in any convenient housing to exclude ambient or extraneous light. Transducer or photocell 1S may, for example, be a device the current fiow through which is determined by the amount or intensity of light incident on it. When this current is caused to iiow through a resistor, a voltage output may be derived. Since the cathode ray tube is operated at constant beam or spot intensity, the intensity of light falling on photocell will be constant, as will its voltage output, when the spot of light is traversing the background portion of the curve display means no matter whether the background is light transmissive or not. When the spot crosses curve 13, however, the intensity of light to the photocell is varied to its opposite extreme and a voltage pulse will appear in its output. If the background of curve display means 12 is such that light is transmitted, that is, if it is either transparent or reflecting,

and curve 13 is not, the pulse will be negative going. If curve 13 is light transmissive and the background of display means 12 is not, the pulse will be positive going. In either arrangement, the voltage pulses may be amplified by an ampilfier 16.

It should also be noted that cathode ray tube 10 could, alternatively, be an image dissector, image orthicon, vidicon, or any other suitable type of camera tube which may preferably be provided with any convenient electrostatic deflection system. The function of photoelectric transducer 15 would then, of course, be incorporated as a part of the operation of such a camera tube and the video output signal of the tube would supply the pulse input signal to amplifier 16. lf magnetic deliection is used it is necessary to derive the deflection currents from a constant current source driven by the specifically illustrated deflection voltage signals. Of course, where electrostatic deflection is used the voltages shown herein would simply be applied directly to the deflection system of the camera tube.

Furthermore, if curve 13 is deposited on curve display means 12 in a medium which is opaque to electrons (such as an ink containing a dispersion of lead) then an electron beam from any convenient source may be directly focused on one side of the curve display means as a search surface in which case the photoelectric transducer would be replaced by any convenient transducer having a voltage output which is a function of the incidence of electrons on the transducer. Such an arrangement is another illustration of the limiting case of eciprocally imaged relationship previously discussed in connection with the use of a mask. In any arrangement it is only necessary that the search surface on which the beam of an electron beam device is focused to a spot, the position of which may be controlled by suitable defiection means, be placed in one-toone correspondence or reciprocally imaged relationship with a curve display means. This may be accomplished either by the physical identity of the two surfaces, by placing them immediately adjacent each other as when only the glass end face of a tube intervenes, or by interposing suitable optical means bei tween the two surfaces. A transducer is then required having an output which depends upon the positioning of the spot in one or another of the portions of the area of the search surface which corresponds to one or another of the regions of the curve display means so that a change in the output of the transducer will indicate that the spot has crossed the boundary between these regions, or in other words has crossed the curve being displayed.

Returning now to the embodiment of the invention specifically illustrated and assuming, for the moment, that as shown in FlG. l, switch-arm S1 is connected to terminal 16', the output of amplifier 16 is then applied to a pulse detector 18. The pulse detector may, for example, comprise a band pass filter which will not pass the steady direct current or D.C. output voltage of amplifier 16, but which will pass the pulse output. This filter is followed by a rectifier or any other convenient means to derive a D.C. signal from this pulse output. The output of the rectifier is applied to a clamping tlip-tiop or bistable circuit 19 which, when triggered or actuated by signal from pulse detector 18, controls any convenient circuitry to clamp the search sweep generators 26a and Ztlb at the values which they have at that time. One specific example of circuitry for doing this is shown in FIG. 14 which will he described below. By this clamping action, the variation or oscillation in value of the voltage output of generators 26a and Zub, which initially causes motion of the center of the search circle Q, is stopped, and these voltages are then held fixed at the values, pxo and pyo, which they have when the spot first encounters curve 13. The output from pulse detector 18 is also applied to a pair of flip-flops 44 and t5 which introduce initial velocity voltage conditions vxg, vyo into the system to start motion of the center O of search E sin wt, from generator 21V cause the spot to move in a Search circle Q havingits center O located at a point on the face of the cathode ray tube, the coordinates of which are pxo and pyo. This is apparent from the discussion above and from comparison of FlGS. 2 and 5. If the component pX consisted only of the voltage E cos wt, and if the component py consisted only of the voltage E sin wt, the position vector g of FIG. 2 would originate at the center C of tube and would have a magnitude proportional to the magnitude of vector E of FIGURE 5. Butl we have seen that E is a rotating vector of constant amplitude, the tip of which traces out a circle, and therefore it follows that the inputs from thecircle generator 21 will cause the spot S to rotate in a circle. l the deflection means used are linear, the magnitude of the radius of this circle will be determined by the absolute value or magnitude of 142, which conveniently may be made negligibly small by comparison to the length of curve 13 by suitable equal settings of potentiometers 23 and 24. Ot course, suitable adjustment may be made in the magnitude and phase of the outputs of thecircle generator so that the particular deflection means used will cause the spot to rotate in a circle. For the present, however, we assume, as noted above, Vthat the deflection system is linear in the relationbetween detlection and applied voltage at least to within the degree of precision desired for the overall system.

The frequency of rotation of the spot S around the circle will be determined by the frequency of master oscillator 22a of circle generator 21 which serves as a clock or synchronizing phase reference for the entire system. The center O of circle Q will not in general be at the center C of tube 10,01? course, but will initially be held at :the xed position px, py by the clamped voltages from sweep generators 26a and Ztlb. The spot S will then rotate about the point pxopyo near curve 13.

When, as shown in FIGURE 6, the distance along a perpendicular line or normal ON+ from the center O of Search circle Q to a tangent L-L-lto curve 13, is less than the radius OG of the circle Q, the spot S will cross curve 13 twice per revolution around the circle Q, as shown at points G and H. The segment GH of curve 13 shown in FIGURE 6 may, for example, be an enlarged view of the corner of hexagon 13, indicated by the arrow 13a in FIGURE l, which is the iirst point of intersection with the curve if the above suggested televisionV Search sweep raster is used. The segment GH is shown rounded since a sharp corner or intersection does not exist in the physical medium` in which curve 13 is drawn when it is magnified to the scale of the drawing in FiGURE 6. It will be recalled that the diameter of search circle Q will normally be of the order of magnitude of a few millimeters. Even if curve 13 does comete a sharp point, however, it is .immaterial to the operation of the system, since search circle Q approximates `the tangent to the curve segment GH by the dotted line chord GH of circle Q.

'It is convenient to consider the tangent L-L-{- to be moving in a positive direction when it moves counterclockwise around the curve 13 and to consider the normal to be pointing in a positive direction when it leads,

that is, when it is ahead of the tangent in countercloclcfar more rapid rate than the center O or Search circle Q v movesY around curve 13. In practice, a frequency of atenei-s lil rotation of spot S of 450 kilocyeles, set by mast'eroscillator 22a, has, for example, been found satisfactory. For a single rotation of S around circle Q, the center G of circle Q may be considered to be stationary with respect to the x-y axes, or to the position OF as shown in FIG. 6 in which vector 1Q lies when time =0, rather than to be moving along a line parallel to L+ around curve 13. That is to say, a single rotation of S around Q may be regarded as taking a still snapshot ot the motion of the search circle relative to curve 13 during a very small time interval. Hence the angles 0G and 0H of the two points G and H at which the spot S intersects the curve 13 may be measured, as shown in FEGURE 6, with respect to the axis GF in the search circles set of orthogonal axes. Of course, the origin O of the search circies set of orthogonal axes shown in FlG. 5 will move relative to the origin C of the tubes set of orthogonal axes, but the two sets of axes will always remain parallel to each other so that angular measurements in the two are equivalent. The relationship between these two sets of axes is given at any instant by the position vector from the center C of the tube to the center O of the Search circle. Like any other vector, this position Vector may be expressed in either polar or rectangular coordinates.

As a result of the two intersections G and H ot the spot with the curve, the output of photoceii amplifier 16 is a series of pulses as shown in FIG. 7 which is a diagrammatic waveform plot of ampliiie'r output voltage against time. In FIGURES 6 and 7, time is counted so that t=0 at the instant when the spot is at point F, or in other words, when vector E is directed horizontally along the x axis. It will be recalled that if t equals 0, the angle w1 equals 0, and that the cosine of 0 equals 1 and the sine or^ O equals 0. Therefore, at time 1:0 or, more generally, at time t=nT, where T is the time for one rotation and n is any integer, the vector E generated by an x counted.` It one desired to use digital techniques, the

voltage E cos (wt) could be used to control a pulse generator and cause it to emit a reference pulse when S caches point F where E cos wf is a maximum. The pulse output of the photocell would then represent information in a pulse position modulated code modulo 360 on an incremental time basis determined by the period T of the master oscillator. As will 'be seen below, however, this is not necessary in the analog computer of the present invention, since the pulses are passed through a filter, the outputot which then contains the same information in its phase relationship to the output Vvoltage of the master oscillator that would be contained in pulses modulated with respect to a timing pulse emitted when time equals 11T. As time t increases, the angle wt increases. When wt equals the angle 0G, the spot S will be at point G, and a pulse G will appear in the output of amplifier 16. Similarly when wt equals 6H, spot S will be at point H and a pulse Hwill appear in the output of amplifier 16.

It will be recalled that w=21rf, where f is the frequency of master oscillator 22a. Also f==l/T, where T is the period of the oscillator 22a, so that wt=2nt/T. Consequently, when time t equals T, the period of the oscillator, wl=21r or 360, and the rotating vector is back to position OF. This is marked as point F at a time T in FIGURE 7. During the next cycle from T to 2T, asimilar pair of pulses G and l-l kwill appear. The time interval from G to G is equal to T, and the time interval from H to H is also equal to T, which corresponds to an angle of 21r radians. The time interval from F to G is equal to G/w.

lf the curve 13 is not a narrow line, but rather the edgeof a lled in or wholly opaque shape or area on displaymeans 12 so that, for example, all ot the area below line 13 in FIGURE 6 is opaque, then the pulses G and H will merge to become leading and trailing edges of a single pulse as shown by the dotted line in FIGURE 7. If such filled in material is to be read, the switch S1 is thrown to terminal 17 so that the output of amplifier 16 is applied to a differentiator 17 before being applied to pulse detector 18. Differentiator 17 may be simply a series connected resistor and condenser with output taken across the resistor. As is well known, such a circuit has output whenever its input is changed, and no output when its input is constant. It .viil consequently produce separate pulses at the leading and trailing edges G and H respectively, of the single merged pulse. If desired, ditferentiator 17 may also include or be followed by any conventional pulse shaping circuitry to give the separated pulses a uniform shape and polarity when such filled in or solid area material is to be read.

When a closed curve is drawn as a narrow line which itself gives rise to pulses when crossed by the spot, there are, of course, actually three regions on the curve display means, the narrow line itself being one of these regions. The regions interior and exterior to the line will, however, have the same optical properties. Strictly speaking, two curves are defined by such a line, one being the boundary between the line and the exterior region and the other being the boundary between the line and the interior region. The former, of course, corresponds to the curve which would` be defined if the area within or interior to the line were filled in as a solid shape and is the curve which will be discussed in detail for purposes of illustration.

In either position of switch S1, appropriate to the type of material being read, pulses G and H will be positioned at points G and H as shown in FiGURES 6 and Furthermore, the series of pulses G, G', etc. has, as a fundamental or first harmonic, a sinusoidal vol-tage component of frequency f equal to l/T, as does the series of pulses H, H', etc. Here, as noted above, T is the period of master oscillator. For the purpose of this specification both sine and cosine terms will be called sinusoids since it is well known Ithat they are equivalent to within a constant 90 term. It can be shown that the sinusoidal fundamental of pui-ses GG' etc. can be represented as E1 cos (wt-l-G), since, as best seen in FIGURES 6 and 7, this fundamental is of the same frequency as the horizontal deection voltage, E cos wt, of search circle Q. but is displaced in phase from it by ythe angle 6G. That is to say, E cos wt is a maximum at point F and the sinusoidal fundamental of the pulses G, G is a maximum at point G displaced from point F by the angle 0G or the time interval G/w. Similarly, the fundamental due to the pulses H, H can be represented as, E2 cos (WH-0H). The amplitudes E1 and E2 will be equal to each other but will not in general be equal to the amplitude E.

The pulse output voltage from switch S1 is applied to a band pass filter 27 which is designed to reject harmonies above the rst and to transmit only voltage components having a frequency equal to the fundamental first harmonic frequency, l/ T, of these pulses. The output of the filter 27 is a sinusoid consisting of the sum of voltages E1 cos (wt-HG) and E2 cos (WH-0H). From a well known trigometric formula for the sum of the cosines of two angles and from the fact that E1=E2, it follows that,

This expression, therefore, represents the output voltage of filter 27. For convenience, this latter expression may be rewritten as (6b) E3 cos (wt +0) This is also a sinusoid having an amplitude E3` equal to 2E1 cos 1/z (0H-0G), having a constant angular frequency w equal to that of master oscillator 22a, and having a phase angle 0 equal to 1/z (HH-i-G). Therefore, as center O moves and the position of intersections G and H vary, the amplitude and the phase of the signal output of filter 27 will also vary accordingly.

FIGURES 8 and 9 are similar to FIGURE 6, but have the segment GH of curve 13 replaced by the chord GH of search circle Q. From FIGURE 8 it can be seen that the phase angle 0 of the output of filter 27, which equals 1/2 ('G-i-HH), represents the direction angle of the normal to, that is, of the line ON perpendicular to, the chord GH, which also bisects angle GOH, and intersects chord GH at point J. The direction phase angle, 0, is again measured counterclockwise from the horizontal reference vector OF or, in other words, from the zero phase reference time established by master oscillator 22a. Since the search circle Q is small compared to the length of the curve 13 being traced, and since the time interval of one rotation of S around the circle is small, the chord GH is a good approximation to the segment GH of curve 13, and the phase angle, 0, of the output voltage of filter 27 may be taken to represent the instantaneous direction angle of the normal to curve 13. Phase angle 0 is therefore, also an indirect measure of the direction angle tb of curve 13 itself at point J, as shown by the dashed lines in FIGURE 8. 1t Will be noted that when the approximation is exact, normal ON to chord GH falls along axis N+, the normal to curve 13, and line OL, the continuation of the side of direction angle tb of curve 13, is parallel to the tangent or axis L-L}-. When center O of circle Q is moving counterclockwise around and parallel to curve 13, the vector Velocity E of center O will lie along the line OL and will have a phase angle p equal to (1M-180).

Furthermore, the amplitude, E3 of the output voltage of filter 27, which, as noted above, equals can be expressed, as best seen in FIGURE 9, in terms of the ratio of the distance d or line OI, from the center O of the circle Q to the chord GH and the radius r of the circle Q. This follows from the fact that the angle between radius OG and the normal ON is 1/2 (0H-0G). The cosine of this angle, ,by standard definitions, is d/r, where d is the line OI and r is the radius OG or radius OH. Therefore, the amplitude E3 of the output voltage of filter 27 can be expressed as It can be seen that this amplitude is a maximum when d equals r, that is, when points G and H merge to a single point lying on both curve 13 and circle Q. The amplitude E3 is a minimum when d equals zero, that is when points G and H lie on a diameter of the circle Q, and consequently when the center O of the search circle lies on curve 13. Of course, E3, is also zero if d is greater than r, since in this case the circle Q does not intersect curve 13 and pulses are not produced.

The output voltage E3 cos (wt-H?) of filter 27 therefore contains in its variable amplitude E3 information as to the distance d from the center O of the search circle Q to curve 13, as approximated by chord GH; and it also contains information in its variable phase angle 0 as to the direction angle of the normal ON drawn from the center O of search circle Q to chord GH. This angle is measured, it will be noted, not in the rotating set of axes LL+ and N-N-l, but in a set of axes having the vector OF as the horizontal or x axis. Of course the set of orthogonal axes of which vector OF forms a part has its orientation fixed by the output of the master oscillator of the circle generator Iso that this set of axes will always be parallel to the orthogonal x-y axes determined by the horizontal and vertical deflection axes of tube 1t). Consequently for angular measurements these two sets of axes are equivalent to each other and .phase angle V6'.

phase angle 9 may be considered to be measured in the x-y orthogonal axes of tube 10. The information contained in the signal E3 cos (wt-Hi) and determined by the curve and the search circle may now `be processed or operated on so as to produce voltages which may be used t servo-control the position of the center O of search circle Q so that it will follow along the edge of curve 13 -at a small predetermined distance, D, less than the radius r of circle Q and preferably equal to about one-half thereof.

In FIGURE 1 the portion of the analog computer which performs these operations is shown broken down into different functional sections by the dashed line blocks 21, 28, 29, 30, and 3l, the latter fourV of which will be described in detail below. Block 2l, ofV course, is the Search circle generator consisting of master oscillator 22a and phase shifting element 22h, which have been described in detail above and which have the outputs that are used both to generate the Search circle and to serve as carriers and phase reference voltages throughout the entire system.

Broadly speaking, block 23 has as inputs the voltage from filter 27, E3 cos (wf-H2), as defined above, and a voltage, V cos (WH-fp), which is fed back from block 30. This latter voltage has an amplitude V and phase angle which represents the actual magnitude and direction of the vector veiocity X of the center O of the search circle Q. Initial arbitrary values, vXg and vyo, of the components of this velocity are set Vinto the system as D.C. voltages by the same output from pulse detector kiti which simultaneously clamps .sweep generators 29a and Ztlb when curve 13 is first encountered. Block 23 derives a distance error signal A which is proportional to the distance d of the center of the search circle from the curve, and a directional error signai Awhich is proportional to the difference between the direction angle 0 of the normal to curve 13 and the direction angle p of the velocity vector of :the center of ythe search circle Q. In order to cause this velocity vector X to change its direction to conform to the direction of the curve i3 without changing its magnitude, an acceleration vector A having a direction perpendicular to the direction of velocity vector X, and having a magnitude A proportional to the rate of change of the direction angle 5b of the curve 13 along, or with respect to its arc length, is applied to the velocity vector. Block 23 constructs such an acceleration vector f tfrom the sum A of the distance error signal A derived vfrom the amplitude of the voltage E3 cos (wt-H9) and the directional error signal A derived from the feed-back velocity information and the Adding in the directional error signal serves to damp out unwanted oscillation in the synthesized acceleration signal. The feedback velocity voltage is also used to give the acceleration voltage the correct direction at right angles to the velocity. Block 28 has as its output an A.C. voltage representing this acceleration vector Block 29 resolves this polar vector and integrates the components of the acceleration to corrective velocity components which may be added to the components of the actual velocity lf. The outputs of block 29 are unidirectional or D.C. voltages of variable magnitude andpolarity which represent the x and y components of the corrected velocity.

Bioclr 30 recouverts these x and y components of velocity back to an A.C. or carrier modulated voltage V cos (wl-l-e) the amplitude of which represents the magnitude and the phase angle of which represents the' direction angle of the velocity vector y. Although these are simply two different ways of representing the same vector quantity, it is convenient to recouvert from the D.C. or component form to .the A.-C. or polar form of representation in order to obtain the required feed-back voltage necessary to be able to derive the angular or directional error signal. The polar or A.C. form also facilitates thev use of an automatic gain control circuit to id iix or constrain the magnitude of the A.C. velocity-vector voltage which, it will be recalled, determines the speed of the motion of the center of the search circle. This constraint further clamps out transient errors. Block 3l takes D.C. x and y components of the A.C. velocityvector voltage, and integrates these components to position vector components or deflection voltages, hpx and Apy. These deflection voltages are applied to the x and y deflection amplifiers of the cathode ray tube lll` to control the motion of the center of the circle from the point pxo, py@ around the perimeter of curve 13. This motion in turn creates the information in the variable amplitude and phase of the output signal E3 cos (wt-Hi) of filter 27, thus closing the damped rate servo loop. When the system is used quantitatively as an analog computer the curve 13 is, of course, the input forcing function.

Returning now to a detailed consideration of the system shown in FIGURE l, the output voltage of lter 27,

, E3 cos (WH-0), is applied, through an automatic gain controlled amplifier 32, to a phase detector 33 to obtain signal A and is also directly applied to a rectifier and comparator 34 to obtain signal A. For purposes of sign or polarity convention, it is convenient to consider amplilier 32 as a two stage or zero phase shift amplifier. Of course, it will be understood that any equivalent consistent sign convention may be adopted and that cornpensating electrical changes may be made in accordance therewith as will be obvious to those skilled in the art.r

For the purposes of this specification, a phase detector may be defined as any device having two sinusoidal input voltages of the same frequency but not necessarily of the same phase, where one of the A.C. sinusoidal inputs, called a carrier voltage, has an amplitude which is large by comparison to the amplitude of the other A.C. input, called a signal or modulated voltage; the device further having a D.-C. output voltage the value of which is pro portional to the product of the amplitude of the modulated or signal voltage times a factor which is the sine or cosine of the angle of phase difference between the carrier and the signal voltages; the factor, when the signal voltage is a Vcosine wave, being a sine term if Vthe carrier input is a sine wave and being a cosine term if the carrier input is a cosine wave. Of course, an equivalent relation holds for signal inputs which are sine waves.

A specific example of such a phase detector is shown in detail in FIGURES 11 and l2. The timing function which this circuit serves may be performed in pulse or digital networks by such circuits as are, for example, described on pages 370 et seq. of Volume 19, Waveforms of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Radiation Laboratory Series, McGraw-Hill, 1949. However, as shown in FIGURE 11, the present circuit is adapted to accept sinusoidal rather than pulse input voltages and to accurately measure or sample the instantaneous value of one sinusoidal input at a time determined by the other sinusoidal input, rather than to select one particular pulse from a series of pulses. In FIGURE 1l a carrier voltage EC cos (wt-l-c) is applied to the grid of a pentode amplilier tube '77, through a coupling bapacitor Fi5' and resistor 76. Screen grid and plate potentials for the tube 77 are derived from a B+ power supply through resistors '78 and 79 respectively. The plate circuit is decoupled from the power supply by capacitor 79a. Output signal is taken from the amplifier through a transformerTl having a primary winding d1 connected' in series with resistor 79 and the anode of tube 77 and tuned, by a capacitor Sti, toresonance at the angularrfrequency, w, of the input carrier signal. Capacitors 32 and 83 are bypass condensers for the screen and for the cathode resistors 73 and 8d respectively. The secondary 85 of transformer T1 is tuned by a capacitor S5 to the same frequency, w, to which the primary is tuned. If the transformer is adjusted for critical coupling,` then at the resonant frequency there is a phase shift across it. This critical coupling is not necessary to the operation of the stage but is convenient from the point of view of accurate alignment procedures to be described below. One end of secondary winding S is connected to the anode of a diode 87 and the other end of secondary 85 is connected to the cathode of another diode 8S. A capacitor 89 is connected between the cathode of diode S7 and the anode of diode 88, and resistors 90 and 91 and the potentiometer 92 are connected in series across the capacitor 89. A capacitor 93 is connected from the wiper arm 104 of potentiometer 92 to ground. Output is taken across capacitor 93 through an R-C filter consisting of resistor 94 and capacitor 95.

A modulated or input signal Em cos (wt-l-m) is applied to a cathode follower tube 96 through a capacitor 97. The anode of tube 96 is connected to a BJ,- power supply through resistor 98. Grid bias is derived through a resistor 99 connected from the grid to the junction point of cathode resistors 100 and 101 which are connected in series between the cathode of tube 96 and ground. Output is coupled through a capacitor 102 and appears across a resistor 103 connected between capacitor 102 and ground. The junction point of capacitor 102. and resistor 193 is also connected to the mid-point of the secondary 85 of transformer T1.

During the first cycle of carrier signal coupled through transformer T1, a conducting path is established through the diodes when the anode of diode S7 is positive and the cathode of diode 83 is negative. This conduction charges the capacitor 89 to very nearly the peak value of the voltage appearing across the diodes. Of course, when the polarity of the voltage reverses the diodes will not conduct. Furthermore, during the next and all succeeding cycles of the carrier input, the diodes S7 and 88 will conduct only at the instant when the voltage on the anode of diode 87 reaches a positive value greater than that to which capacitor 89 is charged.

In operation, the arm 104 of potentiometer 92 is adjusted so that it and the mid-point 105 of transformer T1 are at the same potential, that is to say, so that the circuit between points 104 and 105 is balanced to ground. During the brief portion of the cycle when the diodes conduct, capacitor 93 and resistor 103 are placed in parallel, and capacitor 93 will be charged to a voltage equal to the instantaneous value of the output signal of cathode follower 96.

These voltage relationships are shown graphically in the waveform diagrams of FIGURES 12a and 12b. In FIGURE 12a the carrier input, Ec cos (wt-c) is shown as it appears across diodes 87 and 83. Of course, suitable adjustment must be made as, for example, by reversing transformer connections or using an equivalent sine wave input, to allow for the phase reversal of 180 in the input amplifier stage and 90 across the transformer. The input carrier is, for convenience, treated as being the carrier as it would appear across the diode since this is the value of the carrier which determines the logical or mathematical effect of the operation of the stage. Electrically the carrier actually required at capacitor 75 may be either a sine or cosine term since suitable phase delay and circuit adjustment may be introduced in many different ways as will be obvious to those skilled in the art. As the circuit is shown in FIG. 11 a sine wave at capacitor 75 will produce a cosine wave at the diodes due to the net phase shift of 90 between these two points. In practice the circuit may be readily and accurately aligned by placing an input carrier voltage on capacitor 75 and a signal voltage having the same phase (or derived from the same source) on capacitor 97. If the input voltages are known to be exactly in phase, the net phase shift between capacitor 75 and the diodes will produce a 90 phase difference. A zero output across capacitor 93 then indicates .that the circuit has been properly aligned. In FIG. 1 carrier inputs are indicated as the carrier required at the diodes rather than that actually applied to capacitor 75.

As shown in FIG. 12a, the maximum value EC of the carrier appearing on the diodes will occur at a time measured by phase angle c which is shown for convenience as measured negatively from zero. Of course, the zero point of time may here be considered as the beginning point of any cycle after the first since as noted above, time is measured by angles modulo 360, that is, wt equals (wt{-n360) where 11 is any integer 0, 1, 2 etc. In FIG. 12b the modulated signal Em cos (wt-mz) is similarly shown having a phase angle m. As noted above, the diodes will conduct during a brief interval of the cycle represented by the vertical bar 106 in FIGURE 12a. This occurs when the carrier has its maximum value and the magnitude of the modulated signal will therefore be sampled at this instant. As may be seen by reference to FIGURE 12b, however, the value or amplitude of the modulated signal at this instant is Em cos (c-m), since it is the instantaneous value of a cosine wave of maximum amplitude Em originating at an angle (-m) and sampled at the angle (c-m) along the wave. This is, therefore, the value to which the capacitor 93 is charged, and hence the value of the D.C. output. Of course, if the phase difference (c-m) changes, the value of the D.C. output also changes. If as shown by the dotted line in FIG. 12a, the carrier on the diodes is a sine wave, the modulated signal will be sampled at a time indicated by the vertical bar 106' and, as shown in FIGURE 12b, will have a value equal to Em sin (c-m). In any case, the peak value of the carrier voltage should be large compared to the peak value of the signal or modulated voltage so that the latter will not affect the sampling time.

The phase detector circuit has been described in gcneral terms since similar circuits are used at various points in the system. It will, of course, be understood that either a sine or cosine signal input, as desired mathematically, may be derived electrically from either a sine or cosine Wave, the difference between the two electrically being merely a constant phase difference for which circuit adjustment may readily be made as will be obvious to those skilled in the art. In practice such circuit adjustments are made stage by stage as the system is aligned.

It will be noted that the phase detector is used to derive a D.C. output signal proportional to the product of the sine or cosine of the phase difference between its two A.C. inputs, the carrier and signal voltages, times the amplitude of the input signal voltage. As will be seen below, when the carrier has a zero phase angle with rcspect to the phase of one of the outputs of the circle generator, i.e., when it is derived from the circle generator, a pair of phase detectors may be used to electrically instrument the mathematical process set forth in Equations la and 1b of taking x and y components of a vector quantity which is represented in polar form as the A.C. signal input to the phase detectors.

The electrical instrumentation of the converse process of synthesizing a vector from its components will also be described in detail below. Essentially this process iS performed by a pair of balanced modulators, the outputs of which are passed through an adder. By a balanced modulator is meant a device having an A.C. output the amplitude of which is proportional to a D.-C. input signal and the frequency and phase of which are equal to those of an A.C. carrier input. In practice this carrier input is also derived from the circle generator. Since the details of these processes will be further discussed below, vector quantities will, for the present, be discussed as such on the assumption that they can be represented electrically in either polar (A.C.) or component (D.-C.) form and that the processes of resolving and synthesizing vectors can be carried out electrically through the use of phase detectors and balanced modulators using the circle generator voltages as reference carriers as stated above.

Returning now to FIGURE l, the output of filter 27, Es COS (WH-0), is applied through amplifier 32 as the carrier voltage input of phase detector 33 which also has To the extent that chord GH is a good approximation forY arc GH of circle Q, the segment OI is a good approximation to OB, and the increase, Ad, of O'J over OB may be approximated by segment O'Z of normal ON. The actual change in A" is, of course, proportional to the actual change of OJ as compared to OI. This change is indicated in FIGURE 10b, not to scale, but by standard methods of diierential geometry. The manner in which the change in A" above actually occurs may be seen more clearly for example in FIGURE 10d.

Returning to FIGURE 10b, and considering the distance tr-aveled, OO' as As, then increment OZ divided by As is equal to the sine of A which in turn is equal to the sine of Arb, the change in the direction angle of the curve. When the angular changes are small, as they will be when As is small, the sine of the angle Ap is good approximation to the rate of change of angle 1,0 with respect to arc length s. Hence, when the system is tracking stably, the acceleration called for by A" will be approximately yproportional to the curvature K of curve 13 which, by definition, equals drt/ds where s is the `arc length of curve 13. The degree of error in this rst approximation is sensed by phase detector 33 which produces the directional error signal A which is added to A" to give the actual magnitude of acceleration A, which is proportional to dgb/ ds, that is, to the curvature K of curve 13.

Furthermore, under transient errors such as shown for example in FIGURE c, the system tends to restore itself. The distance correction applied by A creates an angular error which is in turn sensed by A which then applies a restoring force. Of course the two actions actually blend and O moves smoothly along an exponential curve, such as solid line segment OO' in FIGURE 10c, to the dashed line a distance D [from curve 13. Even though the two signals A and A" arise simultaneously, the time constant of the circuit producing A' may conveniently be made about one order of magnitude slower than the time constant of the circuit producing A", and potentiometer 33a and/or 33b may then be adjusted to obtain the relative proportion between the maximum possible values of the signals A" and A necessary to secure the critical damping action shown in FIGURE 10c.

In practice, the system can be made to track or follow a curve using only the distance error signal A" if potentiometer 34a is properly adjusted with yrespect to the scale factors of the rest of the system. In aligning the system, this adjustment of potentiometer 34a with potentiometer 33h set to zero is preferably made empirically to obtain the smoothest tracking possible using only signal A on a simple curve such as ya circle. Signal A is then added in increasing amounts as, for example, by increasing the setting of potentiometer 33h upwardly from zero until wholly stable tracking is obtained. The addition of the two signals affords smoother action and greatery stability, particularly in the presence of extreme errors as will be seen in greater detail below.

It should be noted that, unlike signal A, the output A' of phase detector 33 could not be used alone as the sole error signal for the system of FIG. 1. The use of the rectifier and comparator 34 is necessary to cause the error voltage A to null when the center of circle Q is at a small distance D outside of curve 13 so that, when equilibrium is reached as a result of the servo action of the system, the amplitude E3 of the voltage E3 cos (wt-l-) will not be zero (as it would be if the circle centered on curve 13), but rather will be equal in magnitude and opposite in polarity to the xed comparison voltage. Of course, if amplitude E3 goes to zero, indicating that the circle is centered on the curve, there is no carrier input to phase detector 33 and curve direction information is then momentarily lost until the resulting output of comparator 34 corrects the situation.

If one desires the Search circle to move directly centered on the curve, one may, for example, use a system of the type disclosed and claimed in the copending application S.N. 618,553 of Charles W. Johnson, entitled An Electronic Curve Follower, filed concurrently herewith and assigned to the same assignee as the present application. It is, of course, apparent that whether it is desirable to have the search circle ride directly centered on the curve or to ride at a slight distance away from the curve depends upon the particular application for which the system is intended.

In the system of FIG. 1, the magnitude of the sum A of error signals A and A', which is the output of adder 35, represents the magnitude of the necessary correcting acceleration vector which must be applied perpendicularly to the velocity vector to cause the circle Q to follow along the curve. The polarity of A indicates whether the acceleration vector should lead or lag the velocity vector. Of course, it will be understood that the initial Velocity due to voltages vxo and vyo will not change until voltages representing a correcting acceleration are applied and that in general the velocity vector remains unchanged when A is zero. In other words, due to the fact that the capacitors in the integrators retain their charge in the absence of input, the system has a velocity memory and the center of circle Q behaves like a particle having mass or inertia which will continue to move in a straight line unless acted upon by some external force. Voltages representing components of a correcting acceleration vector here correspond to such an external force.

It is desirable to apply this correcting acceleration vector perpendicularly to the velocity vector since it is well known that, if the accelerating force, f, acting on a particle of mass, m, moving in a curve of radius of curvature R, is always perpendicular to the direction of the velocity of the particle, the speed or absolute value V of the velocity of the particle is constant and the magnitude of the radial acceleration is inversely proportional to the radius of curvature R. In elementary Newtonian mechanics this is usually expressed by the equation:

Since acceleration, A, equals force divided by mass, it follows that:

But curvature K, which is basically defined as dcp/ds, that is, the rate of change of the direction angle of a curve along or with respect to its arc length, may also be shown to be equal to l/R, so that (9) may also be written in the form,

(10a) A=KV2 Since V2 is here a constant, whereas A and K are, in general, variables along a curve, this may more convemently be written,

Since the error signal A closely approximates the cur'-' vature K of curve 13, and since the center of circle Q is constrained to have a constant speed V, the damping feedback to phase detector 33 causes A to better the approximation of A to K in the sum A, and the acceleration vector voltage derived from signal A and applied at right angles to the velocity vector, leading 1t or lagging it according to the polarity of A, simulates a centripetal force f applied to a particle moving along curve 13. The operation of the closed loop system then satisfies or solves the above Equation 10b along a line of motion determined by curve 13. Of course (8), (9) and (10a) are also thereby solved for values of A as K changes along curve 13. A more detailed description of the overall operation of the system based on the above described error sensing operation will be given below 1n connection with FIGURESy 10a-10g.

The desired A.C. acceleration vector is constructed,

A.C. carrier input, and having an outputv which is an- A.C. voltage theV amplitude of which is modulated. proportionally to the variable magnitude of the D.C. input and the frequency and phase of Which are equal to the frequency Iand phase of` the A.C. carrier input. lf the v D.C. input changes polarity, the phase of the A.C. output is shifted by 180( Balanced modulator 3,6 may, for example, lconsist of a modification of a circuit commonly known as the lDiamod and shown in Figure 11.8 at page 393 of Volume 19, Waveforms, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Radiation Laboratory Series, McGraw-Hill, 1949. The circuit shown therein is intended to accept pulse inputs. For the sine or cosine carrier wave operation specified herein, it is desirable toV tune the carrier input transformer to resonance at the frequency of the carrier and feed it from a tuned amplier. have been obtained by using a transformer having a toroidal. ferrite. core and taking. particular care in accurately locating the center tap` thereof. vThe modulated output is,` preferably, also taken through a. tuned amplitier. The output of balanced modulator 36. is a voltage, A cos (wr-iep), the amplitude ofvv'vhich is proportional .to the D.C. input A which -is the magnitude of the desiredcorrecting acceleration vector, but which is in phase with or parallel to, rather than perpendicular to,'the carrier input representing the velocity vector V. This voltage may be applied to a phase shiftingnetvork 37 which introduces a 90" phase lead l(or 270. phaselag) to achieve. the desiredl perpendicular relationship.

The output of network 37 is applied tov a pair of phase detectors 38 and 39, which are 4similar to phase detector 33, and which vhave D.C. outputs which represent the x `and y components yof the desired acceleration vector. This is accomplished bysupplyiing a voltage, E4 cos wt, from circle generator 2i as the carrier input tov the diodes of phase detector 3.8 to which the voltage A cos (wt-|-qb-l-90) is applied as the signal input. Of course, the phase angle' of the. carrier'input is here zero degrees. The D.C. output of the phase detector is then a Voltage aX equal to A ,cosY -{-90 As will be obvious from a consideration from FIGURES a and 5, this is the x component of an acceleration Vector perpendicular to the velocity vector V. ln a similar fashion phase detector 39 has an A.C. voltage, E sin (w1), also derived from the circle, generator 2l, as its carrier input and has a D.-C. output voltage, ay, equal to AA sin (QH-90), which is the y component of the acceleration vector. lt should be noted that phase shifting element 37 could be placed in the carrier `input line to balanced modulator 36' or, alternatively, could befeliminated by inter-'changing Y the carrier inputs to the phase'detectors 38. and @which cosine term by subtracting 90 from the argument of the sine termy and thenwritingV itas a cosine term. If the carrier on the diodes of the phase-detector isa cosine wave of zero phase, thatis, derived from themaster Best results oscillator,.it Will have itspositi've maximum at the origin.

oa set.. of Cartesian. coordinates or at time zero. If the cosine wave signal input has zero phase theA two will coincide and the D.C; output- Will be. Em Cos (0) or simply EmXl as it should be. It now the carrier. Wave remains xed While the input signal progresses in phase positively along the x axis, then itis apparent. that the sampled. value at any instant 'willbe Em times the cosine? of` the signal input voltages. phase angle with correct polarity throughout all four quadrants. rIf thesignal input is a cosine term and the carrier input is a sine Wave derived from the master oscillator, asimilar line of reasoning Will show that the D.C. output signal is En, times the sine of the signal? input voltages phase angle again with correct polarity throughout all four quadrants. The only. diierence is that the sampling will now occur at plus 90 alongthe x axis rather than at the origin.. It will,

further be noted4 that this explanation of the operation of the phase detector and that given earlier in connection With the description oi the circuit` aresimply twoequiya.-

detector shown functionsasfa four quadrantV analog` multiplication circuit or resolver which takes the product of the amplitude of its modulated input signal times a sinusoidal function of the angle o f phase. diierence betweenits carrier signal and its modulated input signal. Where the magnitude of any vector quantity represented. Y

by the carrier is a constant, the phase detector functions toltake the vector dot product of the vector quantities put voltage.

The x and y components of acceleration, ax and, ay, from phase detectors 38 and 39 are applied to. integrators 4t@ and' t1 respectively which, in accordance with Equation 4 above, will have outputs vX and vy representing correction or incrementalcomponentsT of velocity-vector X. integrators 4G and 4l may comprise operational or highl gain D..C. amplifiers with capacitive yfeedback and resistive input elements of the type commonly used inv analog computers. Incremental velocity components vx md, v'y are applied to adders 42 and 43, respectively. These adders Vmay be ordinary summing amplifiers and have, as their other inputs, voltages4 vx@ and vyo respectively which are applied to them by bistable circuits or ilip-ilopswtt and 45 respectively. YFlipftlops 44 and 4S are triggered to the desired. `output states by the output from pulse detector i8, when the search circleV iirst encounters curve 113. Of course, potentiometers may be used to adjust their output magnitudes, or, if desired;

a pair of potentiometers having grounded center taps canbe connected in parallel across a single flipfop voltage source. Thus, at the same time that search` sweep generators 20a and 2611 .are clamped to a xed value, thereby stopping the original search motion of the center of thev The outputs of addersy 4Z, and 43 are,` respectively, Ithe* sums of the x and y components of the. initial velocity plus the x and y components of the corrective velocity necessary to make the circle follow along the curve.

YThese outputs, vx and vy, are applied respectively `to a pair of balanced modulators 46 and 47,. which are similar to balanced modulator 36, and which have, as their carrier inputs, voltages E cos (wt) and E sin (wt) which are derived from circle generator 21. The output voltage of balanced modulator 4,6 is an A.C. voltage, vx cos (wl), and the youtput voltage of balanced modulator 47 is an A.C. voltage,vy sin (wt). These outputs are applied 23 l to an adder 48 which, for example, may be a Y network of three resistors buffered from the balanced modulators by cathode follower amplifier stages, or which may be an operational summing amplifier.

By well known rlues for the addition of voltage vectors which are at right angles to each other, as are the A.C. inputs to adder 48, the amplitude V of the output voltage, V cos (wt-M1), of adder 48 will be equal to the square root of the sum of the squares of the amplitude, vX and vy, of the input voltages, and the phase angle gb of the output voltage will be equal to the angle whose tangent is equal to the ratio of vy to vx. Of course, the frequency of the output voltage is the same as that of the two inputs which is determined by master oscillator 22a. It is apparent that, as noted above, the direct-ion angle qa of the initial velocity will be determined by the ratio, vyD/vxo, of the magnitudes of the initial velocity condition voltages.

It will be noted that, by referring all phase relations to a carrier generated for the entire system by the master oscillator of a circle generator, a pair of phase detectors, such as 38 and 39, may be used to resolve a vector by obtaining D.C. voltages representing the x and y components of an input vector which is initially represented in polar form as an A.C. voltage, the amplitude of which represents the magnitude and the phase angle of which represents the direction angle of the vector. Conversely, a pair of balanced modulators, such as 46 and 47, followed by an adder, may be used to synthesize a vector by deriving from D.C. inputs representing components of a vector, an output which is an A.C. or polar representation of the vector. Other operations, such as integration,

may then be performed on whichever representation of the vector is electrically the most convenient for the particular operation desired. This electrical technique for converting from a component to a polar representation of a vector quantity is particularly well adapted to the needs of the present system, but may, of course, also be used generally in electronic analog computers of different overall design.

The output of adder 48 is applied to an automatic gain control amplifier 49 which has a portion of its output fedback to a rectifier and comparison circuit S0. Circuit 50 compares the amplitude of the voltage V cos (WH-e) with a manually adjustable D.C. speed standard voltage, and has an output which is proportional to the difference between this amplitude V and the magnitude of the speed standard voltage. With switch S2 set on terminal 58, as shown, this output is applied as a bias to the A.G.C. amplifier 49, in such a manner as to hold the amplitude of its output voltage at a constant value determined by the magnitude of the speed standard voltage. The amplitude V, of course, determines the speed or absolute value of the velocity of the center of the search circle, which may thus be constrained or adjusted to any desired fixed value by adjusting the D.C. speed standard voltage. This standardization or constraint of the magnitude of the velocity vector is one illustration of an operation which is more conveniently performed on a vector in the polar or A.C. form of representation by contrast to the component or D.C. form of representation which was used in performing the integration of the acceleration vector.

Of course, it should be understood that any equivalent circuit for controlling the amplitude of the voltage V cos (wt-l-p) may be used in place of amplifier 49. Clippler type circuits, for example, may be used if erroneous phase shifts in A.G.C. amplifier 49 become troublesome. As a still further alternative a balanced modulator of the type used at 45 and 47 may also be used in place of amplifier 49.

The A.C. voltage output of amplifier 49,

V cos(wt|) is now a polar representation of the actual vector velocity of the center Search circle Q. This output is the feedback voltage which was applied as a signal to phase detector 33 and as a carrier to balanced modulator 36. The use of this voltage as a carrier for balanced modulator 36 ensures that (after a 90 phase shift by network 37) the acceleration Vector will remain perpendicular to the velocity vector no matter how the direction of the latter may change. The use of the voltage V cos (wt-i-qb) as signal feedback to phase detector 33 may be thought of as providing a measure of how close the approximation of signal A from comparator 34 is to the magnitude of the actual acceleration required to keep the system tracking. That is, A" is a first approximationvto the curvature which, if exact, would cause the system to track perfectly and A would always be zero. It will be recalled that A equals kV cos (t9-rp) where 6 is the direction angle of the normal to the curve. Hence A adds to A a voltage proportional to the directional deviation of the velocity vector from the direction of the tangent to the curve. The sum A is then the required acceleration and is proportional to the instantaneous curvature, K.

The voltage V cos (wt-hp) from amplifier 49 is also applied to a pair of phase detectors 52 and 53, which may be the same type as phase detectors 38 and 39, and which have as their outputs D.C. voltages representing the components, vx and vy, of the velocity vector. The phase detectors 52 and 53, of course, derive their carrier inputs, E cos (wl) and E sin (wt), from circle generator 21.

The outputs, vX and vy, of phase detectors 52 and 53 are applied, respectively, to integrators 54 and S5. These integrators may be of the same type as integrators 4) and 41, and, in accordance with Equation 5, will have as their outputs, D.C. voltages Apx and Apy, which represent components of a corrective position vector having its origin at the fixed point pxo, py@ and the tip of which traces out the perimeter of curve 13. When these corrective component are added to the'fixed voltages pxo and py from the clamped search sweep generators 20a and 2Gb, the sums will represent components of a position vector, E", drawn from the origin C at the center of tube 10 to the center of the search circle Q. This addition is performed in the x and y deflection amplifiers 25 and 26 which have as their outputs the voltages pX and py, respectively, the x and y components of the position vector E of the spot S. rI'he correct relative polarity of the various voltages applied to amplifiers l25 and 26 may be insured by the manner of their connection, or, if desired, integrators 54 and 55 may be followed by inverters to compensate for the phase shift in the integrators.

Of course, the outputs px and py of amplifiers 25 and 26 which are applied to the defiection plates of the cathode ray tube 10, also include the small search circle voltages applied to deflection amplifiers 25 and 26 from master oscillator 22a and phase shift element 22b. If one wishes to use the system as a function generator to obtain voltages representing the x andy coordinates of the curve 13 as functions of its arc length, s, the voltages ApX and the clamped voltage pxo may be applied to an adder 56, and the voltages Apy and the clamped voltage Apyo may be applied to an adder 57. The outputs of these adders will then be the voltages representing the x coordinate and the y coordinate, respectively, of position vector 2 and will closely approximate the coordinates of the curve 13 as a parametric function of its arc length s.

The fact that these voltages are functions of the arc length follows from the fact that the speed or absolute value of the velocity along the curve has been held constant by the system. Since it is well known that speed equals distance or arc length divided by time, it follows that if the speed is held constant at a preselected fixed value, arc length, s, will be directly proportional to time, t, and the coordinate voltages, which vary as a function of time, will also be directly proportional functions of arc length s. Of course, it will be understood that the voltages, x(s) and y(s), which are the outputs of amplifiers 56 and 57 respectively, also could be obtained by lthe initial transient error.

The output voltages' from ladders 56 and 57 maygof course, be used for any desired purpose; If applied to the horizontal and vertical deection plates respectively of a second or monitor cathode ray tube (not shown), they will. cause curve 1'3 (increased` in size by the small distance D) to be traced 'out on its screen.`

Moreover, these voltages may be applied, for example, as inputs to conventi'tm'al analog to digital converters. If the analog, voltages are sampled at equal time intervals,

' the values read will represent coordinates of the curve at points. spaced equal' incrementsY As of arc length along the curve, rather than coordinates of points' spaced at equal increments Ax along the x axis as would be the case if x were the independent variable. The independent variable is x, for example, in systems where x. is generated by a linear sawtooth horizontal sweep. The outputsl of' converters used with the present system, which are digitally encoded representations of the Functions 11, may then be applied to any convenient. storage medium such as magnetic tape or punched cards. The stored information in `turn may be used for any desired purpose such as programming an automatic machine tool -to reproduce a part having the same shape as .curve 13. Of

It shouldalso be noted that both the first 'and second i derivatives of. the voltages 11 with respect to arc length are available in the system in component form at the inputs` to integrators 5.4,` 55 and lill, 4l', respectively, and in polar form at the outputs of A.G.C.`A ampli-tier lill and balanced modulator 36, respectively. Furthermore, the output A of yadder `is proportional to the magnitude of the curvature K of curve 13. Any of these voltages maybe read out for any desired. purpose as, for example, by meters or recorders 51, 60, and 63.

Returning now to a detailed consideration of the operation or" the system, when the search circle first intersects hexagon 13, as, for example, at. the corner 13a, sweep generators Zila and Zlib are clamped and the initial condition velocity voltages vx@ and vyo are gated on. If the television type of Search raster is used, any curve noF matter what its shapey may be, will rst be intersected at or near its highest point relativeto the` face of the cathode ray tube. If the top of the curve. isY a horizontal straight line, as in curve 13 of FIG. l, the iirst intersection will be at the left end of this line. 1 Even if the curve being read happens to come tol ya sharp point or cusp at its highest point, the search circle Q, which approximatesthe curve by the chord GH, will see some point Where the direction of the chord GH is. horizontal. Since the curve cannothend upward on either sideof its highest point and is not likely to change direction greatly within a distance equal to the radius of the search circle, it is reasonable to adjust vyo to some negative value the magnitude of which is small by comparison. to that of vxu. This adjustment is not critical but does serve to minimize The polarity of vxo may be either positive or negative depending upon whetherone 26Y Y Wishes to initiate clockwise or counterclockwise motion around the curve.

It should be noted however, that the polarity relations in the error sensing portion ofthe system discussed earlier are such that counterclockwise motion of the center of the search circle around the outside of the curve is possible only at an operatingv point lying on the same line segment as does point 131 of. FIG. 10g. At point 133, which lies on a line segment havingthe same slope as that on which 131 lies, counterclockwi'se. motion around the inside of the curve is possible.

At points and' 132 respectively, or at similar points on the same line segments, clockwise. motion around the outside or the inside of the curve, respectively, results. To determine which of these operatingpoints will be used the triggering characteristics and sensitivity of flip-nop 19 andthe time constant of pulse detector 18. may be adjusted in any convenient manner so that the center of the. circle will initially he clamped on they particular line, segment ofthe graph of FIG. 10g on which one desires to operate. For example, to pick up point'13ll, hiphop-19. should require the maximtun value of E3for initial. triggering and the time constant of detector 18. should be. such as to ensure response immediately after the peak of the curve A in FIG. 10g. is passed.

ln this manner the search circle Q may initially be clamped at a, point on the line segment containing a point such as 0, as shown in FIGS. 10a and 10b, and given an initial velocity X0. T he operation ofthe system then proceeds in a manner to be described below to cause the distance d toequal D and, as earlier described, to change the direction of Y0 to that of Y1 as the center of the circle moves from point O to. point 0.. Since El is now parallel to a straight line segment of curve 13. and since center O is at the fixed. distance D from curve 13, both A' and A become zero and so also, of course, does A. This action. is consistent with the fact that the curvature `of a straight line is zero. When the next corner is reached, a similar correctivev acceleration vector having a magni- Vtude. proportional to the curvature, at the corner will be applied to again change the direction of E. Furthermore, it is apparent that. if vxovand vyo were not originallyv so fortuitously chosen as to cause X0 to initially be parallel tje-chord GH, similar correctionV signalsV A and/or A would immediately result and correct the transient error.

Also, if lone increasesthe number of sides in the polygon, which is here shown as a hexagon, it will' in they limit approach a circle'.l Sincedglf/ds. is constant for a circle, the output A will bev a constant which is directly proportional to the curvature K and inversely proportional to` the radius oi curvature R of the circle. Although it is convenient to use circles` of various known radii inthe initial alignment and calibration ofthe system, it can be shown that the relations set forth in Equations 8, 9 and 10 above hold true general-ly for a curve of any shape. Reference is` made, `for example, to the book entitled Advanced Mathematics for'Engineers. by H. W. Reddick and F. H. Miller, second edition, page 318 et seq., published by John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1947.

FIGS. 10a and 10b assume that the center O of circle Q. is initially at the predetermined distance D from curve 13 as vapproximated by chord GH. In connection with these figures it has been shown above how the velocity may bev caused to follow changes in the direction of the curve under these conditions. It has further been shown above in connection with FIG. 10c that if O is too far away from a straight line segment but Y0 is parallel to the segment, error sinal A damped by error signal A will result in correction of .the displacement. Of course, if O is ntoo close to a vcurve, the polarities of the quantities shown in FIG. 10c are simplyVv reversed. This situation-of being too close may, arise either from an initial condition error or from a change in the direction of the curve. The lattercase is shown in FIG. 10d, in conjunction F'with which it hasbeen explained above how theA dis- 27 Y Y tance error signal A" gives the primary measure of the change of curve direction when the system is tracking stably.

Suppose, however, that as shown in FIG. 10e, a displacement error exists at a point where the curve is also changing direction. Even though the initial velocity X is parallel to chord GH, the rectifier-comparator 34 will immediately sense the displacement error rather than the change in curve direction, and A" will initial-ly be proportional to the distance of O from the dotted line a distance D from curve 13. The applied acceleration vector resulting from A results in a new velocity vector X1 which clearly is not parallel to the new direction of the curve 13. However, phase detector 33 senses the angular error and the acceleration vector resulting from its output A changes the direction of X1 to that of X2. Although, O is still not at the distance D away from curve 13, the system now sees only an error of the sort already discussed in connection with FIG. c. This is, of course, corrected in the manner explained above. The situation illustrated in FIG. 10e is one example of how the output A of phase detector 33 is used to damp out transient errors or to correct unusually large or abnormal directional errors other than those arising from a regular change in the direction of the curve being followed. Another example of a situation to which A responds is that Where the initial velocity is not parallel to the curve but has, for example, a direction such as that of the vector X1 in FIG. 10e. Thus if O' in FIG. 10e were the initial point at which the center of the search circle were clamped, the situation would be corrected as explained above.

Finally where a displacement error and a directional error are such, as shown in FIG. 10j, as to both require acceleration components of the same polarity for correction, the signals A' and A may aid each other rather than damp or oppose each other. Thus in FIG. 10], X0 is initially changed by an acceleration vector proportional to the error signal A" resulting from the displacement of O from the dotted line. The resulting vel-ocity X1, however, is not parallel to curve 13 since the direction of the curve has also changed. This directional error is sensed by A which applies an acceleration to 11 changing its direction to that of X2. X2 again presents the system only with an error of the type already discussed above in connection with FIG. 10c. Thus it is seen that in normal operation when the system is tracking stably the directional error l signal A merely serves as a damping factor which is applied to the distance error signal A. However, the directional error signal A' also serves to correct abnormally large or transient directional errors which would not be sensed by the distance error signal A. The damping function `of A' is of particular import-ance where one is tracing extremely irregular curves that may involve a wide range of values of curvature or sudden changes in the value of the curvature. In such instances it is necessary to prevent over-correction since, as noted above in connection with FIG. 10g, if the center of the search circle crosses the curve being traced, the polarity of reverses. If such a reversal of polarity occurs, it will, of course, result in instability of the system.

While an attempt has been made to set forth a theoretical explanation of the operation of the system to the best of our present belief and understanding, it should be understood that the invention is not to be limited by the theoretical explanation presented, since as a practical matter, if the apparatus is constructed and adjusted in accordance with the teachings of this specification, it will operate as a curve follower in the manner described above.

Furthermore, although various uses and applications of the system have been'set forth above, it is to be understood that these are by Way of example only and that many other applications also exist. For example, in the copending application of Charles W. Johnson and Paul 28 f. Weiss, S.N. 618,606, entitled Form Recognition System, `led concurrently herewith and assigned to the same assignee as this application, it is shown that the curvature K of any curve as a function of its arc length s is a property of the curve which is (1) invariant When the transformations of translation and rotation in the Plane are applied to the curve and (2) semi-invariant under the transformation of magnification. By an invariant is meant a property of the curve the value of which, for a given point on the curve, does not change when the curve is subjected to transformations such as translation or rotation. That is, the curvature, for example, at a given point on curve 13 is the same no matter how stencil 12 is translated or rotated relative to the axes on the face of tube 10 even though the value of the position vector of the given point measured in these axes is changed by such motion. By a semi-invariantvis meant a property of the curve which is changed only by a constant factor by the transformation being considered. Thus the curvature K is semi-invariant with respect to the transformation of magnification as Well as invariant with respect to the transformations of translation and rotation. That is to say, the plots of curvature against arc length for two curves of the same shape but different sizes (one being a photographic enlargement of the other) will be the same except for a constant magnification factor.

It will be recalled, however, that the output A of adder 35 of the present system is directly proportional to curvature and may be recorded as by a meter 51 or any other convenient recording or storage `medium. It is thus seen that this signal A may be used in a form recognition or character or document reading system of the type disclosed and claimed in the above noted copending application S.N. 618,606. The system as disclosed therein uses in exemplary fashion a photoelectric electromechanical curve follower the output voltages from which are applied to a computer which, in turn, derives from them properties, such as the curvature K of a curve, that are invariant or semi-invariant under the transformations of translation, rotation, and magnification. The values of the voltages representing these properties are then compared with stored values of the same property computed for known curves and a recognition is indicated when the computed and stored values coincide or otherwise have a predetermined relationship. If the electronic curve follower of the present invention is used in place of the electromechanical curve follower in the form recognition system of the above noted copending application, the voltage A, here shown as 'applied to a meter 51, directly represents one of the desired curve characteristics which may be compared with stored standard characteristics of known curves to automatically identify the curve. Moreover, the x and y coordinate voltages produced by the present curve foliower may readily be sampled at equal time intervals by any convenient analog to digital converter. The digital outputs may then be used to compute any of the invariants or semi-invariants disclosed in the above noted copending application S.N. 618,606 by the methods taught therein.

Of course, the curve 13, which has been discussed as a hexagon for convenience of illustration', may in fact be a letter of the alphabet, a numeral, an outline on a map or photograph, a drawing of a part on a blue-print, or in general any other type of curve which one desires to read. Furthermore, other properties of the curve may, if desired, be computed or otherwise obtained from the values of the voltages representing the curve coordinates and the first and second derivatives thereof, which, as noted earlier, may be readily obtained in either component or polar form from the present electronic curve following system.

It should further be noted that in such an application of the system, the linearity of the cathode ray tube 10 with respect to the relationship between applied deflection voltage and the amount of resulting deflection, 

1. APPARATUS COMPRISING MEANS FOR DISPLAYING A CURVE, MEANS FOR GENERATING AN ELECTRON BEAM AND FOCUSING IT TO A SCANNING SPOT UPON AN ELECTRON RESPONSIVE MEMBER, MEANS FOR DEFLECTING THE BEAM TO CAUSE THE SPOT TO DEFINE A SEARCH CIRCLE UPON THE ELECTRON RESPONSIVE MEMBER, MEANS FOR POSITIONING THE DISPLAYED CURVE AND THE ELECTRON RESPONSIVE MEMBER IN RECIPROCALLY IMAGED RELATIONSHIP, MEANS FOR DERIVING AT LEAST ONE SIGNAL VOLTAGE CONTAINING INFORMATION DETERMINED BY THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE DISPLAYED CURVE AND THE CENTER OF THE SEARCH CIRCLE, AND MEANS FOR FURTHER DEFLECTING THE BEAM AND THE SEARCH CIRCLE IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THE SIGNAL VOLTAGE TO MOVE THE CENTER OF THE SEARCH CIRCLE IN A PATH DETERMINED BY THE CURVE. 